Recent submissions

Comment · 3 years ago
Yes, or maybe more accurately - we are the American equivalent of Formula SAE Germany. The German teams are significantly more advanced and better funded, with some of the teams running custom built electric inhub motors (something that's unheard of here in the US)

I am currently on San Jose States Formula SAE team - we merged our electric and combustion teams last year to go all electric since it's where the stiffest competition exists. If we could secure sponsorships we'd love to take our car to Germany!

Comment · 3 years ago
This is not an accurate take. It does not require some great expertise to identify edible mushrooms, and in cultures where mushroom consumption has been common for hundreds of years (such as Russia), basic identification techniques are well known.

There are some edible mushrooms with poisonous look alikes - there are plenty other edible mushrooms without those deadly cousins. If this gentleman had made it 70+ years without issue, it is rather unlikely he would have some issue now.

As the saying goes: there are old foragers and bold foragers, but there are not old and bold foragers.

Comment · 4 years ago
From what I understand, one of the big bird issues with turbines is that birds of prey like hawks, eagles, and falcons don't generally look forward but down as they scout for prey, and thus are likely to fly into turbine blades. I believe some turbines have cameras systems to detect birds in the vicinity of the blades and either make a noise to alert the bird or maybe even bring the turbine to a halt. This is really only an issue for large scale installations though, obviously wouldn't apply to low lying roof installations.
Comment · 4 years ago
The aero packages for these vehicles create a pretty significant amount of downforce at relatively low speeds - for example, our car last season produced ~140 lbs of downforce at 35 mph.

Edit - A lot of that comes from the rear wing though, which the green team didnt run for this particular event.

Comment · 4 years ago
Comment · 4 years ago
Although the other comments are correct about the 30mph optimization for the aero package, this car uses active underbody aero (aka, fans) to create additional downforce even when at a standstill. See the recent runs of the Speirling at Goodwood festival of speed to see a purpose built "fan car" in action.

Interestingly, this setup wouldn't be allowed due to rules in Formula SAE in the US but is legal in the german competition cause those teams are just built different.

Edit - Quick plug! If anyone is interested in supporting FSAE and the awesome engineering that goes into these cars, I am a member of the San Jose State team and our aero team is in need of HPC access to run their CFD simulations. My email is in my profile. Cheers.

Comment · 4 years ago
I learned that the two of them were housemates for a period of time while taking a mycology class from Alan - can you imagine being a fly on the wall in that place? What a colorful group.
Comment · 4 years ago
I have to say I think it's quite possible and comical that the professor interpreted your work on two of the three questions as additional evidence that you did know it should be an "and", since I would guess relatively few students would attempt any more than _one_ permutation if the assignment only asked for one.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Comment · 4 years ago
Did you know that hemp was not used in Dr. Bronners soaps until the 90s?

I think it's well know that Emmanuel Bronner suffered from some mental illnesses - the man lost his family to the holocaust and was sent to a mental asylum upon arriving in America. Life was not necessarily kind to him but he seemed to do alright with the cards he was dealt.

I know when I first learned about the soap, I had a similar sentiment as you. As I have learned more about the history of Dr. Bronners, I have come to see that it is hard for me to imagine some of the trials that the generations before us have faced.

Comment · 4 years ago
Everybody has different needs, so I can respect that it's not a perfect soap for all people.

That being said - are you diluting it or using it straight? I usually dilute 4 parts water to 1 part soap for handwashing / showering. Also, the Eucalyptus scent was harsher on my skin than others - I prefer the unscented, almond, or peppermint varieties.

Comment · 4 years ago
Could you clarify by what you mean as "it wasn't very nice"?

I've been using bronners for a decade and have recommended it to more people than I could count. I've never had anyone tell me they downright disliked the soap - with the exception of peppermint, some folks don't like the chilling sensation.

Follow the instructions on the bottle for dilution as well, makes like easier and spreads out the soap.

Comment · 5 years ago
I'd imagine you aren't the only person who may be having a hard time adjusting from a remote freshman year to an in person sophomore year! Outlook is a big part of these things, and sometimes optimism is a great tool even when it seems unwarranted.

I'm a cali guy, so I can't comment on Texas A&M from experience, but... is there a computer lab available for working on your CS assignment? At my school our lab was lovingly referred to as "the dungeon". It was a place where you would spend long hours working with others on hard problems. As others have mentioned, shared hardship goes a long way towards friendship, and I am still close with some of those I met and worked with there!

Comment · 5 years ago
One thing I'd add to the advice given already is to get out and socialize sooner rather than later in your degree. When you are a freshman, everyone is in the same boat as you, trying to piece together a new group of friends. It can seem daunting, but know that you're not in it alone!

After freshman year, you'll still certainly be able to make plenty of friends, but I found that first year to be especially primed for socialization.

As others have mentioned - ask people to hang out outside if class. Get to the clubs you are interested in, even if they aren't full of other CS majors. Look for events sponsored by the school, like concerts or dances or sports games, and try to find folks who are interested in a good time there.

Best of luck to you!

P.s. - where are you going to school? If you feel comfortable sharing, you could potentially get some advice on campus specific activities (if there are any alumni around).

Comment · 5 years ago
I am not 100% on HN policies regarding flagging / renaming threads, but I do see articles get renamed on a fairly regular basis without getting flagged into dead status first? Is there not a mechanism to suggest a different title without getting it pulled entirely?

I think the click bait title is a good knee-jerk reaction test, and I would suspect a fair number of folks flagged the thread without reading the full article. In the spirit of open discussion and intellectual honesty, this seems like a failure.

A more descriptive title would probably be for the best, though.

Comment · 5 years ago
"The point of the polices was to counter the incredibly destructive result of the surge of cocaine, crack, heroin use in the mid 1970s and early to mid 1980s."

This would be plausible if the policies were focused on those drugs exclusively. However, I see the draconian policies targeted towards cannabis, hallucinogens, and amphetamines as pretty ample evidence that the "war on drugs" had much wider ambitions than curbing the usage of these hard narcotics.

Edit) To your point of folks speaking harshly of our current drug policies - look at where we are now, 50 years later. A nationwide opioid crisis created by pharma companies. A generation, if not two, of young men and fathers locked up in prison with little to no room for upwards mobility. Communities, already economically deprived, losing stability, obliteration of the nuclear family core, and enduring oppressive policing policies. So yes, I think its entirely fair for a new generation to shit on the war on drugs. Even if the policy was formed with good intentions (which is, frankly, debatable), it is still bad policy.

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